Stories for August '14
(Issue Story)Exhibitions
Maine Antique Digest includes, as space permits, brief announcements of exhibitions planned by galleries, museums, or other venues. We need all press materials at least six weeks in advance of opening. We need to know the hours and dates of the exhibit, admission charges, and phone number and Web site ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Allison Kohler of JMK Shows Will Work with Rhinebeck Antiques Fair
Allison Kohler, president of JMK Shows, will begin working with the Rhinebeck Antiques Fair as an associate in promoting the 38-year-old show.
According to Kohler, she recently met with the producers of the Rhinebeck Antiques Fair and discussed the challenges of sustaining shows and creating new promotion techniques.
“The Rhinebeck Antiques Fairs ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)U.S. Antique Shows Hires New Sales Manager
U.S. Antique Shows has hired Debbie Puccio as sales manager. Puccio will be located at the company’s headquarters in Naples, Florida, and brings more than 15 years of experience in sales and business development to her position. As sales manager, Puccio will be responsible for leading efforts in securing dealers ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Penny Wise, Pound Foolish
Editorial
Buy the best you can afford. That’s long been a maxim in the world of art and antiques, and for someone who Forbes estimates is worth $3.2 billion, it should be an easy principle to follow.
Not so for California real estate developer Igor Olenicoff. Olenicoff and his company, Olen Properties ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Grant for Contemporary Fraktur Exhibition
The Free Library of Philadelphia has received a $360,000 grant from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage Exhibition and Public Interpretation program in support of its upcoming Framing Fraktur contemporary art installation and exhibition organized by curator Judith Tannenbaum.
Taking inspiration from the library’s extensive and rare Pennsylvania German fraktur ... (Read More)
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(Show)Scott Antique Market: You Can Get Anything You Want
Don Scott still enjoys the excitement on the show floor during the monthly market he established in Atlanta over 25 years ago. He takes care of business in a comfortable office filled with antiques and artifacts.
Roy Bird of Ironwood Restorations, McConnells, South Carolina, specializes in pocket watches and railroad watches, ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Moderate to Top-Tier Sales at Doyle New York, Skinner, and Bonhams
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
Just before the start of summer, Skinner, Doyle New York, and Bonhams offered at auction jewelry that realized prices in the hundreds to the hundreds of thousands of dollars. There was something for just about every buyer at each level of the market. It was difficult to ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)CCADA Awards Annual Scholarship
Each year, the Cape Cod Antique Dealers Association (CCADA) provides funds to the Cape Cod Community College Educational Foundation to give a scholarship to one or more Cape Cod Community College graduates who will be pursuing additional studies in the field of art, history, and the decorative arts. This year, ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Marion and Dennis Vasse, Au Fil de l’Eau Antiques, New Berlin, New York
Marion and Dennis Vasse. Dennis built the springhouse behind them.
The Vasses’ Gothic cottage in New Berlin, New York.
Their pasture and animals across the road. During our interview, Dennis suddenly jumped up, bolted out the door, and ran across the road to this field. “We have a fox problem,” Marion said. ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Civil War Soldier’s Skull Pulled from Maryland Auction
A Maryland auction company was unprepared for the negative public reaction that erupted when a Civil War soldier’s skull was set to be sold on June 3. The remains had been found decades ago at the former site of a field hospital used after the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. Photo courtesy ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)Books Received
These are brief reviews of books recently sent to us. We have included ordering information for publishers that accept mail, phone, or on-line orders. For other publishers, your local bookstore or mail-order house is the place to look.
The World Is an Apple: Still Lifes of Paul Cézanne, edited by Benedict ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Tom Miano, Founder of Serious Toyz, Joins Morphy Auctions
Tom Miano.
Tom Miano of Serious Toyz has joined Morphy Auctions, based in Denver, Pennsylvania, as its pop-culture expert. Miano will be responsible for acquiring consignments and managing sales of vintage toys and pop-culture collectibles, starting with a September 6 auction of character, postwar, and space toys.
“Tom’s auction house, Serious ... (Read More)
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(The Art of Marketing)Sniping
The Art of Marketing
For the last two months I’ve covered the topics of selling and buying through eBay. You’d think I’d had enough, but because something interesting happened to me with one of my purchases on eBay a few weeks ago I’m going to stay on the topic.
I bought an ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Slow, Deliberate, and Careful
Auction Law & Ethics
Consigning property to auction is a simple process, until it’s not. The “not” often arises when least expected and can come from something unforeseen. A reader wrote me about a situation that illustrates this point. I’ve edited her letter.
“Dear Mr. Proffitt,
“I consigned an item to auction and ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London
Ian McKay, [email protected]
Chinese works of art, including the most expensive hinge you are ever likely to come across, open this month’s selection, with teapots, modern aeroplanes, portrait miniatures, a planetarium, posters, Prague street scenes, and a couple of snuffboxes adding to the mix.
The Qianlong white jade Imperial hinge fitting sold ... (Read More)
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(Young Collectors)Heirloom Quality
The Young Collector
We’ve talked before about our guilty pleasures in terms of collecting. We have others: eating marshmallow fluff from the jar, putting the windows down with the heater running on cool evening drives, and bad television. One of our guilty pleasure TV shows is Hoarders (or Hoarding: Buried Alive ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Flags from the 2nd New Hampshire Regiment of the Continental Line
During Antiques Week in New Hampshire, a side trip to the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord will provide a glimpse of New Hampshire’s role in the Revolutionary War. On display at the society’s headquarters are two flags from the 2nd New Hampshire Regiment of the Continental Line. The flags ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Jacobsen Reviewed
Herbert D. Maxwell, four-masted schooner, 28" x 48", oil on canvas, signed “Antonio Jacobsen, 31 Palisade Avenue, Hoboken, NJ, 1905.” In March 1912, she sank in Chesapeake Bay after a collision with the steamship Gloucester5 with the loss of four lives. Photo courtesy Vallejo Maritime Gallery, Newport Beach, California.
An article ... (Read More)
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(Computer Article)Antiquer Pioneers
In 1989, editing was done in WordPerfect 5.1 and other word processors with memorized control key combinations or menus pulled down by control keys.
Computer Column #308
John P. Reid, [email protected]
Computers are essential tools for most antiquers, but that was not always true. Sam Pennington (1929-2008), founder with his wife, Sally, of ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Jewish Folk Art Samplers: A Trip to Amsterdam and Germany Answers Some Questions
Darning sampler, dated 1809, the maker is “MH.” The Hebrew alphabet appears two times—the top line and again the sixth line. Martin Ex thinks the letters at the end of the Hebrew alphabet on the top line may be a name, a group of initials, or something in Yiddish. The ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Changes at the Met
Morrison H. Heckscher retired on June 30 after 13 years as head of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. He served a total of nearly five decades at the Met. Heckscher’s new title became Curator Emeritus of the American Wing on July 1, ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)$210,000 Paid for Painting by Georgia Peanut Farmer
Presidents from Millard Fillmore to Barack Obama are represented in this once-in-a-lifetime collection of books authored by or written about a U.S. president. Some of these books are rare or came from the presidents’ personal libraries. The set includes the signatures of the following: Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New York Strengthens Ivory Law
New York Assemblyman Robert Sweeney, chairman of the Environmental Conservation Committee, said on June 18 that an agreement has been reached to restrict the market in New York for ivory articles and rhinoceros horns. The bill prohibits transactions involving these materials with very limited exceptions and increases the criminal and ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Early Cropsey Painting Discovered
Photo courtesy Freeman’s.
Not every American painting is sold in American paintings sales. Lot 110 in Freeman’s “European Art and Old Masters” sale on June 17 in Philadelphia was cataloged as “British School (19th Century) ‘Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire, England,’ located verso, 22" x 34", oil on canvas laid to panel.” The ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)"Going West" Goes Up
This lithograph sold for $78,600. Photo courtesy Rachel Davis Fine Arts.
At Rachel Davis Fine Arts on June 14 at the Works on Paper auction, a lithograph by Thomas Hart Benton, Going West, sold for $78,600 (includes buyer’s premium) to an on-line bidder. The print, signed and numbered “29” in pencil, ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)An Art Deal Gone Wrong: Dealer Sued and “Buyer” Indicted
An $11,080,000 art deal gone awry has resulted in both a civil suit and a federal indictment.
On June 13, the Degas Sculpture Project Ltd. and Modernism Fine Arts Inc. filed suit in federal court against Rose Ramey Long, who is also known as Rose Ramey Littlejohn and does business as ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Heritage Auctions Files Suit against Christie’s, Ex-Employees
What are three experts worth? About $60 million in lost profits and damages, claims Heritage Auctions.
The Dallas-based auction firm filed suit against Christie’s on June 13, claiming that the venerable auction house stole Heritage’s “complete Luxury Accessories business group” when three former employees defected to Christie’s. The former Heritage employees ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Book & Ephemera Fair Folds after Opening Night
A strange thing happened at the Flamingo Eventz Philadelphia Vintage Book & Ephemera Fair at the Sheraton in downtown Philadelphia on Friday, June 13. Greg Gibson of the Ten Pound Island Book Company wrote about it in his weekly blog (http://bookmanslog.blogspot.com). “After setup and opening night at the Philadelphia Vintage Book ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Some Big Prices at Briggs Auction
A pair of lounge chairs on welded and patinated steel frames by Paul Evans brought $33,040.
There was competition for a Chester County, Pennsylvania, sampler dated 1830 and worked by Hannah Bittle, who stitched flowers, animals, and the names of her parents and grandparents and surrounded them all with a ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Americana in Atlanta
Massachusetts mid-18th-century highboy, $39,325.
An early 19th-century Empire table by New York furniture maker Charles H. Lannuier, with white square marble top, $36,300.
Federal eagle-inlaid and figured mahogany tall-case clock, circa 1800, attributed to Matthew Egerton, $28,435.
Several pieces of high-end Americana crossed the block at Ahlers & Ogletree in Atlanta, Georgia, during ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Thomas Webb & Sons Art Glass Vase Brings $260,000
Signed Thomas Webb & Sons finely carved English cameo glass vase, $260,000.
An English cameo art glass vase by Thomas Webb, 9½" tall, signed “G. Woodall 1887,” brought $260,000 (no buyer’s premium charged) at part two of the sale of the collection of the late Dr. Ernest Rieger and his wife, ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Brandywine Show 2014
The preview party takes place out in the courtyard and on all four floors inside. The weather was fine, with no rain, although there were showers in surrounding communities on Friday night and wet roads for the drive home.
Harold Cole and Bettina Krainin of Woodbury, Connecticut, asked $1650 for the ... (Read More)
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(Feature)"The Rookie" Bats $22,565,000
Norman Rockwell’s The Rookie (Red Sox Locker Room), oil on canvas, 41" x 39", painted in 1957, sold for $22,565,000 (est. $20,000,000/30,000,000) to a phone bidder. Reportedly the consignor had turned down an offer of $30,000,000 (or more), preferring the risk of auction. Rockwell painted it for the March 2, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Al Cali Collection of American Percussion Revolvers and Civil War Carbines
This boxed Bliss & Goodyear pocket model revolver, New Haven, Connecticut, serial no. 3131, circa 1860, sold on the phone for $5625 (est. $5000/8000) to a Texas collector. It was the cover lot of the sale.
This cased, engraved Massachusetts Arms Co. belt model revolver, circa 1850, elicited active bidding from ... (Read More)
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(Auction)"The Garden Chair" Tops American Art Auction
The cover lot of the sale, The Garden Chair, was painted in 1912 by American Impressionist Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874-1939). It sold in the room for $962,500 (est. $1,000,000/1,500,000), the highest price of the afternoon. Frieseke moved to France in the early 1900s and settled in Giverny. The 28¼" x ... (Read More)
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(Auction)American Art at Sotheby's
This is the captivating portrait of the Mohawk Chieftain Thayendanegea, known in English as Joseph Brant (1742-1807), by Gilbert Stuart (1755-1829). It is a 30" x 25" oil on canvas and was scheduled for auction on July 9 in London.
Edward Hopper (1882-1967) signed and dated House on the Shore, and ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Penn Dry Goods Market
The Penn Dry Goods Market was held in the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center, so the collection could be seen by showgoers at no extra charge. Show admission was $6.
Ruth Van Tassel of Van Tassel Baumann American Antiques, Malvern, Pennsylvania, sold this quilt early on Friday morning, right after ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Toy Trains Dominate Bertoia’s $1.95 Million Spring Break Sale
The auction’s top lot, this Carlisle & Finch No. 45 locomotive and passenger set, 1904-08, locomotive with nickel-finished boiler and roof, N.Y.C. & H.R. tender with two eight-wheel #52 passenger cars, and a #111 Baggage Express car, all original, finished with a full head of steam at $46,020.
J. & E. ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Benny Carter’s Museum of Mighty Fine Art
Benny Carter outside his home in Mayodan, North Carolina, with a Statue of Liberty construction. Photo courtesy of Richard Bay.
The front porch of Benny Carter’s home at the time of his death. Meeks Auction photo.
This photo was taken inside the Carter home before everything was transferred to three large ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Outsider Art Fair
Works by Bill Traylor (1854-1949) were scattered throughout the Outsider Art Fair. This one, originally untitled but called Man Pointing Up, 1942, was shown at Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago. The 11¾" x 9" graphite and tempera on found paper work had an asking price of $60,000. Hammer said he sold ... (Read More)
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(Show)Shortened Fishersville Show Enjoys Success
This wall display was found in the booth belonging to Rachel and Michael Gallant of Glenburn, Maine. The Gallants trade as Hometown Antiques. Michael related that they were returning to the Fishersville show following a ten-year absence. Here he displays a 24" diameter wooden bowl, priced at $695; a cast-iron ... (Read More)
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(Show)New Ownership for Grass Valley Show
This Mills double Chicago slot machine with music (“American tunes”) was found in Seguin, Texas, and was priced at $125,000 and “available for purchase.” Exhibitor Bradley Witherell, show promoter Brian Witherell’s brother, was manning Witherell’s private sales division space at the entrance to the show where visitors could not miss ... (Read More)
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(Show)The 2014 Pure and Simple Antique Show
Family hair record with samples from Martha Baldwin, Little Helen and Rev. Curtis Baldwin, and with a place and date, “Ohio 1855,” $135 from Jim and Toni Stoma of Latcham House Antiques, Waterville, Ohio.
Fraktur-type Mennonite family record, the last event dated 1882, measuring 22" x 28", $2250 from Bob Zordani ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Annual Benefit Auction for RAA
The Bathers—Cape Ann by Emma Fordyce MacRae (1887-1974) sold within estimate for $18,400.
Sugaring Time in Vermont, a 30" x 36" signed oil on masonite view by Ken Gore (1911-1991), sold for $2875.
Otis Cook’s Gloucester Harbor, 20¼" x 24¼", was cataloged as in very good condition and sold for $3737.50.
Aldro Hibbard’s ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Clocks and Cannon Balls
Detail of the tree section from Little Round Top. The relic fetched $23,370 (est. $1000/1500). Schinto photo.
These are both circa 1800 Massachusetts shelf clocks, each 40" tall, with so-called kidney-shaped dials. I have asked experts why these dials are called “kidney-shaped,” when kidneys are bean-shaped. No one seems able to ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Heart of America Carnival Glass Association Auction
The blue Fenton Portland Elks bell is the only one known and is considered a key piece in the carnival glass world. One of the nicest pieces of lettered glass out there, it sold for $11,000.
Rare and with very pretty irid, this purple Imperial Hattie pattern chop plate sold for ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Greater York Antiques Show
Raccoon Creek Antiques, Oley, Pennsylvania, asked $32,000 for this Quaker single-door cupboard in red paint and $16,500 for the cats and dogs hooked rug.
Taking up the entire foyer, the stand of Greg K. Kramer & Co., Robesonia, Pennsylvania, was filled with furniture, paintings, folk art, and ceramics of all kinds.
James ... (Read More)
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(Show)Historic East Berlin Antiques Show
This large lavender printed platter depicting “The Residence of the late Richard Jordan/New Jersey” was $295 from Bill and Betty Annable of Oberlin, Ohio.
There were several bee skeps at the East Berlin show. This one is French. It was from Judi and Cy Stellmach of Blue Dog Antiques, Stafford Springs, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Robert Trownsell Civil War Collection
Presentation Civil War artillery frock coat worn by Capt. William B. Chapman, 2nd Ohio Light Artillery, when wounded in action at the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas, $18,000.
Civil War double-breasted frock coat worn by Col. Charles B. Stoughton, 4th Vermont Infantry, $9400.
Civil War major general’s frock coat, original owner ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Delta Blues Meets Visual Blues
With a presale estimate of $25,000/ 35,000, Sam Doyle’s First Blak Midwife, house paint on found roofing tin, 50" x 28", opened at $50,000 and never slowed down. With active phone bidding and jump bids, it sold at $204,000 to the sound of an in-house cheer.
Second place is rarely noticed ... (Read More)
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(Show)Bowmanville Show and Canadiana Still Relevant after 41 Years
This poignant sign was found in eastern Ontario. Ken Ross of Gore’s Landing, Ontario, had it priced at $1950.
This very unusual circa 1930 Parcheesi and checkerboard hails from the Verchères, Quebec, area. The decorative roundels serving as the nests are blue, white, and red, which are exactly the Royal Air ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Internet and Phones are Big Winners at Couture and Vintage Fashion Auction
The fashion house Irfé is unknown to us, which was obviously not the case with a woman who sat one row ahead of us and kept her paddle raised for this outfit until the hammer went down for $12,000 (est. $600/800), after which this woman quickly exited the premises. Her ... (Read More)
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